Racism Review

Judith Butler Refuses Award at Berlin Pride Citing Racism

Last week, noted social critic and philosophy professor Judith Butler refused the Berlin Civil Courage Award saying, “I must distance myself from this racist complicity” (h/t @blacklooks via Twitter). Butler was referring to anti-immigrant media campaigns that repeatedly represent migrants as ‘archaic’, ‘patriarchal’, ‘homophobic’, violent, and unassimilable while at the same time prominent (white) gay organizations in Berlin encourage a heightened police presence in gay neighborhoods where there are more people of color. The group SUSPECT condemned white gay politics and applauded Butler’s refusal saying:

It is this tendency of white gay politics, to replace a politics of solidarity, coalitions and radical transformation with one of criminalization, militarization and border enforcement, which Butler scandalizes, also in response to the critiques and writings of queers of colour. Unlike most white queers, she has stuck out her own neck for this. For us, this was a very courageous decision indeed.

SUSPECT is a new group of queer and trans migrants, Black people, people of color and allies whose aim is to monitor the effects of hate crimes debates and to build communities which are free from violence in all its interpersonal and institutional forms.

Angela Davis, noted scholar, activist and UC-Santa Cruz professor, has also voiced support for Butler’s refusal of the prize, saying “I hope Judith Butler’s refusal of the award will act as a catalyst for more discussion about the impact of racism even within groups which are considered progressive” (h/t @blacklooks via Twitter).

What Dan Savage and other privileged white gay men fail to understand is the way one struggle is connected to another. In part, I think this is because they fail to see the ways that sexuality and race are intertwined. When you begin to see this, it shifts our understanding of oppression. Rather than seeing “blacks” and “gays” as somehow distinct, disparate groups, such an analysis allows you to recognize the reality of black and brown LGBT lives (such as the recently out entertainer Ricky Martin, who is both gay and Puerto Rican). And, such an analysis makes visible the white privilege that still adheres to the lives of LGBT folks like Savage. The challenge then, for white LGBT folks, is whether they are going to continue to wage a campaign for the rights of some or whether we will join the struggle for LGBT human rights with other human rights struggles.

What’s maddening about the ignorance around race among white LGBT people, is that it represents such a lost opportunity for – as SUSPECT points out in their statement – a “politics of solidarity, coalitions and radical transformation” and replaces it with one of criminalization, militarization and border enforcement. What might this look like? As just one example, the organization Immigration Equality, is coming out against Arizona’s draconian immigration law:

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community knows all too well how easily people who “look different” can be singled out for harassment and prosecution. In addition, LGBT immigrant families are too familiar with the double burden of immigration discrimination. Now Arizona’s LGBT families have yet another reason to be alarmed. The state’s new law threatens to tear apart families, separate children from their parents and rip apart loving couples who are building their lives together. Forty percent of LGBT binational couples in the United States include a Latino family member. For them, and their loved ones, Arizona is now the most dangerous place in America.

As people in New York City and around the U.S. celebrate Pride today, my hope is that we will all embrace a politics of solidarity, coalitions and transformation.

Comments

This is supreme irony. For gay people to be racists. Folks, this is like a grasshopper saying a stag beetle is beneath him.Both of them should befriend each other because both are insects in the ecosystem. We are all hominids in this vast ecosystem called Earth. And the only mammals who fight each with such devastating violence. Sometimes for food, but not always. Sometimes for territory but not always. But because we feel we are superior to another hominid who is actally no threat to us? My dog has more sense folks.

Thanks so much for such a thoughtful piece. You are correct that there is so little thought given to race and sexuality intersections and one consequence of this is the prolific racism that exists within mainstream gay and lesbian organizations and the communities they represent. There’s an extraordinary irony in this given that scholars have pointed out that the modern gay and lesbian movement in American has relied so heavily on the black civil rights movement for its methods and framing. But even more ironic than this, is that scholars have also demonstrated how dependent white supremacy in American has been on the idea that whites are superior because they are heterosexual, marry and have children. Siobhan Sommerville (Queering the Color Line), Julian Carter (The Heart of Whiteness) and Joane Nagel (Race, Ethnicity, & Sexuality) have all done a great job both theorizing and documenting this. One would think that in light of these onerous connections that most gays and lesbians would readily understand that they have little to gain in tying their social justice movement to how much like white people they are. Happy Pride…